I doubt UNI has anything to worry about the donation from 3 years ago, but who knows. In any event, they are going to be losing one of their biggest supporters. I'm sure there will be a fair amount of piling on here, but I really don't know what UNI could have or should have done differently. The guy was very well respected in the industry and had just opened a brand new headquarters in Cedar Falls.

The real discussion (so minus the pointless squabbling and ridiculous, unfounded accusations and fabrications) cannot begin until the situation clears up and we truly know what exactly will happen in regards to the money donated to UNI. And say that it is taken back, once we are sure it was actually used on athletics, academics, general funding, etc...we can then assess what it means financially for the university. It has far larger implications for the surrounding community at this point but a lot is still unclear.

This thread probably didn't gain much traction because this is no big deal. The Ponzi scheme had nothing to do with UNI and this really has little, if anything to do with UNI. There have been fans and donors from every school to end up behind bars. There have been fans and donors from every school that have committed, or attempted suicide. The only difference with this story is that this fan and donor gave $2 mill. In the grand scheme of things, that donation didn't make or break UNI.

Nothing to see here, folks.

There are three rules that I live by, never get less than 12 hours sleep, never gamble with a guy who has the same first name as a city and never get involved with a chick with a tattoo of a dagger on her body. Stick to that and everything else is gravy!

Can't blame UNI here. It isn't their fault that one of their alums ended up being a sleazy thief.

Luckily:

(1) UNI has experience dealing with donors who practice questionable accounting. The namesake of their basketball arena was the subject of countless lawsuits involving questionable money management (I know this is true because I was personally involved in a couple of them...).

(2) Based on previous comments of the UNI AD, which UNI fans assured us was entirely accurate, we know that the athletic department "is in a better position than it ever has been", so returning the donations shouldn't present any financial hardship. We can assume that UNI will just cut a check now and avoid all of the clawback suits and claims by the bankruptcy trustee since they are so flush with cash. After all, a lot of innocent people have lost a lot of money here and UNI doesn't want to gain at their expense. Certainly UNI will do the right thing and return all of the stolen funds that they have received.

(3) Locals aren't really UNI fans or boosters, so all of the money those people lost investing with the crook, along with all of the high paying jobs his company provided, won't have a big impact on UNI going forward.

I'm sure that UNI will work expeditiously to remove all signage/advertising of the now defunct company from the arena and campus. In fact, I assume that has already been done, right?

What I don't know, but have been waiting patiently to find out, is if this crook is a member of the donor circle that donates the funds for Jacobson's salary. If so, could Jacobson be subject to clawback suits/bankruptcy trustee claims as well? How aggressive are bankruptcy trustees in Iowa?